NIA grills two Bangalore prisoners

Obaidur Rehman and Maqbool are part of the same network that is linked to the local modules in Hyderabad, suspected to have executed the Dilsukhnagar blasts.

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HYDERABAD: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Sunday questioned two prisoners in the Bangalore Central Jail which subsequently led to the Hyderabad cops picking up local resident Mohammed Rayeesuddin in connection with the Dilsukhnagar blasts.

Karnataka police sources told TOI that Obaidur Rehman and Mohammed Akram Pasha were the two people questioned by the NIA team on Sunday. "They are among the 15 people picked up by the Bangalore police in September and October 2012 for their involvement in the Bangalore blasts of 2008. Obaidur is a resident of Hyderabad and Akram hails from Nanded in Maharashtra," the sources said.

In fact, a Karnataka police team headed by K N Jitendranath, chief of the Karnataka anti-terror cell, had questioned Obaidur Rehman earlier and came to Hyderabad on Saturday and passed on vital information to the NIA team. "The NIA team questioned Obaidur Rehman and Akram in Bangalore on Sunday, and alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan in Delhi's Tihar Jail on Friday and Saturday. The information extracted from them is pointing to the existence of local modules of LeT and IM. It is these local modules that carried out the Dilsukhnagar blasts and its members are still at large," sources said. Imran Khan is suspected to have surveyed the Dilsukhnagar area in July last year for plotting a terror attack, they claimed. Maqbool and Imran were arrested by the Delhi police in October last year for their alleged role in the August 1 low-intensity bomb blasts in Pune.

According to Karnataka police sources, Maqbool's name also figured in the Bangalore blasts probe during which his links with Obaidur Rehman surfaced. Rehman happens to be the nephew of controversial Hyderabad-based cleric Mohammed Naseeruddin. The names of Obaidur Rahman and Mohammed Akram Pasha figured in the chargesheet filed by the NIA in the Bangalore blasts and other cases last week. "The NIA team learnt that Obaidur Rahman was in touch with Rayeesuddin in Hyderabad, and that is what led to the Hyderabad cops zeroing in on the suspect on Sunday," the sources said.

According to the sources, the NIA team in Bangalore also questioned Abdul Madani, a leader from Kerala, but added that it did not provide any clues to the Hyderabad blasts. Another team of Karnataka police is expected to land in Hyderabad on Monday and more details of the IM network including the existence of several local modules in Hyderabad and several other major cities of the country are likely to emerge.